Fashion week finale goes younger

Breaking the norm of well-known designers doing the coveted last acts at fashion weeks, this year, Mumbai’s Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) winter/festive edition will see two young and not-so-famous designers at the grand finale.

Breaking the norm of well-known designers doing the coveted last acts at fashion weeks, this year, Mumbai’s Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) winter/festive edition will see two young and not-so-famous designers at the grand finale.

Delhi-based duo Pankaj and Nidhi (38 and 29 respectively), and Kolkata-based Kallol Datta, 28, have bagged the top slot at the event, scheduled to take place from August 3-7 in Mumbai. Organisers say the idea was to bring in a whiff of freshness.

“It’s always safe to feature established designers to pull in crowds, but we wanted to infuse some new and fresh energy and give the young, talented designers a platform to prove their mettle. This is no way to disrespect the veterans,” says Anjana Sharma of IMG Reliance, the organisers.

The chosen ones are ecstatic. While Datta has been tweeting non-stop about it, Pankaj Ahuja of the Pankaj and Nidhi duo says, “We are working on a collection that will bring a fresh energy to go with the philosophy.”

The big guys are not taking offence. Wendell Rodricks says, “This will give hope to our young designers, who are sidelined despite their enormous talent.”

Designer Rohit Bal, who mentored Pankaj and Nidhi, feels proud.”Everyone feels fashion weeks favour big designers; this is a great example to show that it is open for everyone,” says Bal. Ritu Kumar says, “This will have a positive impact and will hopefully be followed as an example by other fashion weeks too.”